Ignition timer



J. F. MARTIN IGNITION TIMER Oct; 23, 1934.

Filed March 22, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

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IGNITION TIMER Filed March 22. 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 3' Fig.5.

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Patented Get. 23; 1934 IGNITION TIMER John F. Martin, Springfield, Mass., assignor to United American Bosch Corporation, Springfield, Mass a corporation of New York Application March 22, 1933, Serial No. 662,013

9 Claims.

This invention pertains to timers for. controlling the ignition circuits of inte'i'nal combustion engines of the general type set forth in a prior application of myself and Gustave J -Lang, Serial No. 636,464, for a patent on Timer mounting, filed October 6, 1932. It is an object of this; invention to provide a timer comprising a housing containing an interrupter o'r circuit breaker and a distributor, and having a casing for an ignition coil mounted thereon; the entire construction being inexpensive to produce and easy to assemble and attach to the engine for which it is intended- The objects and advantages of my improvement are set out in the following description and the novel features are defined in the. claims; and I reserve, of course, the right to make changes in details that do not depart. from the spirit of the invention or exceed the scope and meaning of the broad terms in which the claims are ex-- pressed. 7 I

'On the drawings:

Fig. lis a top plan of one form of timer ing to my invention;

Fig. 2 is aside view thereof on a smaller scale Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section taken horizontalaccord- 1y through the middle of Fig. 1, the coil casing being in elevation;

\Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the timer, taken through the distributor:

'Fig. 5 is a top plan of a modification;

'Fig. 61s a side view on a smaller scale of a part of what is shown in Fig: 5; and

Fig. 7 is a transverse section through the distributor of said modification.

The same numerals identify the same parts throughout.

The detailed descriptionhas reference first to the form shown in Figs. 1, 2,. 3' and 4.

The numeral 1 indicates a housing for the timer preferably of cast aluminum on the top' of which is attached a casing. 2 containing the primary and secondary windings, not shown, of a high tension ignition coil, one terminal of the primary of this coil being connected. to a. suitable source of electrical energyon the vehicle propelled by the engine, and the other extremity of this coil being connected to a terminal 3 by which it is joined to the. interrupter or circuit breaker of.

the timer in the housing 1. Of the secondary coil, one end will be grounded in the usual way, and the other end willbe suitable terminal 4 adjacent the base of the casing 2 to enable/high tension current to be. conducted to the distributor of the: timer. The casing of the distributor is shown at- 5. This casing as 'well as the casing 2 will be preferably of some suitable insulating material, and inside of the casing 5 is the rotor 6 of the timer. The interrupter or circuit breaker plate is shown at 7' in joined to a brush or,

the housing l and it has a pair of contacts, one fixed and the other movable; the latter to be actuated by a cam 8 on a shaft 9 in the housing '1 so as to open the circuit of the timer at each instant of ignition. The shaft 9 is mounted in a suitable bearing in the bottom or rear wall of the housing 1 and is adapted to be connected to an operating shaft of the engine torotate the cam 8 and rotor 6. The high tension terminal 4 is embedded in a recess formed in a projection 11 at the bottom of the coil casing 2. It makes contact with a conductor strip 12 embedded in the insulation of the casing or cover 5 and leading to a central brush 13 on the inside of this cover. This brush makes contact with a brush 14 on the rotor 6, which is also of insulation and this rotor has embedded therein a conductor strip 15. The rotor has a pair of arms 16 which envelop this strip 15 from end to end except for the extremities 17 and 18 which project and form movable terminals of the distributor; and the arms 16 are disposed in separatetransverse planes with reference to the axis of rotation of the rotor; and they are also displaced angularly from each other as indicated in Fig. 4. The timer is preferably intended for an eight cylinder motor and as illustrated the arms 16 are about 120 degrees apart; but, of course, the same construction may be employed for a motor of a different number of cylinders merely by making suitable changes in the design of the timer.

In the transverse plane of each of the movable terminals 17 and 18 01 the distributor are fixed terminals 19, four of these terminals being in one plane to cooperate with the rotatable terminal 17 and the remaining fixed terminals 19 being disposed so as to cooperate with the remaining rotatable terminal 16. The terminals 19 are embedded in the sides of the cover or casing 5 and at the sides of this casing (in the outside thereof are cap plates 20 of insulation arranged tooverlie the extremities of the high tension conductors or cables which connect the fixed terminals 19 to the spark plugs of the engine. The

'outer ends of the fixed terminals 19 are pointed side of the caps 20 and the adjacent faces of the sides of the casing 5 may be recessed as indicated at 23 to provide grooves for the adjacent ends of the high tension conductors 22. Hence in order to attach the ends of the high tension conductors or cables 22 to the terminals 19 the ends of the cables are pressed against the points 21 until the connection is effected and then the caps 20 are ecured in place, the extremities of the cables then lying in the groove formed by the recesses 23.

The casing 5 is provided with a protuberance 24 at the top, recessed to enable the projection 11 to project thereinto; and the terminal 4 to make contact with an exposed point of the conductor strip 12. This terminal 4 may be a spring or spring-pressed brush. On the outside face in line with the brush 13 is a boss 25 on the casing 5 and the casing is held in place by a resilient retainingmember 26 which has the form of. three pieces of wire with looped ends and with bent portions 28 arranged to press upon the boss 25 and at the sides against the caps 20. The retainer is in general U-shaped. Twopieces of wire are at each side of the timer, and a transverse piece in front is joined to the adjacent ends of the pieces at the sides by rivets or pins 27 in the looped ends of the three pieces. The two side pieces are secured at their opposite looped ends by 'pins inserted in perforated lugs29 at the sides of the housing 1. Whenever it is desired to remove caps 20 or the casing 5, one of the pins in the lugs 29 is pulled out. When secured, this member holds the casing 5 and caps 20 firmly in place.

The coil casing 2 is held in place by means of perforated lugs shown at 30 through which screws pass to hold it on top of the housing 1. The housing also mounts a condenser support 31. This condenser is suitably connected in the circuit of the primary coil. I

The circuit breaker plate 7 is removably held in transverse position against a shoulder in the housing 1, and the shaft 9 with driving key 10 carries a governor comprising a loose plate 32 and a fixed plate 33 between the breaker plate and the closed end of the housing. Attached to plate 32 are governor weights 34 pivotally mounted on pins 35 carried by the plate 32. These governor weights carry p ns 36 which engage slots of suitable shape in the plate 33. The cam 8 is rigid with the plate 32, so that when the speed increases the cam is advanced with respect'to the shaft 9.

The form shown in Figs. 5 to 7 inclusive is very similar to the construction of Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 except that the side caps 20 which are fiat are replaced with bulging side caps 40. The fixed terminals 19' extend through the sides of the cover or casing 5 and are attached to sleeves 37 on the inside of hollow bosses 38. The caps 40 have outlet necks 41 to permit the exit of high tension cables leading from the distributor to the spark plugs. As before a retaining member 42 secured to the housing 1 on-opposite sides has portions 28 to hold the side caps 40 and the distributor cover or casing 5 in place; the distributor cover' being pressed against the front of the housing 1 and the side caps being held securely but removably in position at the sides of the cover 5.

By referring again to Fig. 3, it will be seen that the shaft 9 between the cam 8 and the rotor 6 is engaged by a second bearing provided in the housing 1 and by a member 43. This member may be ring-shaped with the bearing at the middle and is held in place against a shoulder 44 in the housing 1. The member 43 may be either in the form of a continuous disk with an opening 45 at one part to give access to the fixed and movable interrupter contacts on the plate 7, or it may be in the form of a spider consisting of a hub or bearing in the middle connected by spokes to a peripheral rim, the space between the spokes or lugs of the spider giving access to the contacts of the interrupter or circuit breaker.

The member 43 is held against a shoulder 44 by the shouldered rim 46 on the casing 5 which projects into the front or open end of the housing 1 far enough to press themember 43 against the shoulder 44.

For the sake of cleamess, the retaining member 26. is not shown in Figs. 2 and 6.

The cables 22, as will be understood, may contain stranded or braided conductors for easy penetration by the points 21.

The plate 20 and the casing 5 may be shaped to interflt, as shown in Fig. 4, in any suitable way.

Having described the invention, what is claimed 1. A timer comprising a housing, a distributor casing on the housing, side caps for the distributor, to cover the ends of cables connected to the terminals of the distributor, and a retaining member extending across the distributor to secure the distributor casing and side caps in position.

2. A timer comprising a housing, a distributor casing mounted thereon, side caps for said distributor casing and a U-shaped retaining member attached to the sides of the housing and having portions which press against the side caps and casing to hold the casing and caps in position.

3. A timer according to claim 2 wherein the side caps are substantially in the form of flat plates having recesses cooperating with similar recesses in the sides of the casing to form grooves for the ends of high tension cables connected. to the fixed terminals of the distributor.. I

4. A timer according to claim 2 wherein the side caps are bulging in form with outlet necks for the high tension cables connected to the fixed terminals of the distributor.

5. A timer comprising a housing, a removable cover fastened ontop of said housing, a distributor casing at one end of the housing, and caps for the distributor at the sides thereof to cover the ends of cables connected to the terminals thereof.

6. A timer comprising a housing, a removable cover fastened on top of said housing, a distributor casing at one end of the housing, caps for the distributor at the sides thereof to cover the ends of cables connected to the terminals of the latter, and retaining means secured to the housing and engaging the distributor casing and the side caps to hold the same in place.

7. The tlmer'according to claim 5, wherein the side caps are substantiallyin the form of .flat plates and have recesses cooperating with recesses in the sides of the distributor casing to receive the ends of conductors connected to the terminals of the distributor.

8. A timer comprising a housing, a coil casing forming a cover for said housing, a distributor casing on the housing, said distributor casing having a protuberance adjacent the coil casing with an embedded conductor therein, said conductor in said protuberance having an exposed portion and a terminal carried by the coil casing and engaging the exposed portion of the conductor.

9. A timer comprising a housing, a casing forming a top cover for said housing, an ignition coil in said casing, a distributor casing, closed at its outer end, at one end of the housing, and caps at the sides of'the distributor to cover the ends of cables connected to the terminals thereof.

. JOHN F. MARTIN. 

